Orange boosts expansion to West Africa
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – ORANGE and Bharti Airtel International have signed an agreement leading to Orange’s acquisition of the latter’s operations in Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone.
France-headquartered Orange will acquire 100 percent of the two companies’ share capital.
The consolidated revenue of the two companies is around 275 million Euros.
These acquisitions will be implemented in partnership with Orange’s subsidiaries in the Ivory Coast and Senegal.
The completion of these transactions remains subject to approval by the competent authorities.
“These acquisitions provide a clear illustration of Orange’s international development strategy, which places a priority on accelerating growth in high-potential, emerging markets where the Group is not already present,” Orange stated.
Through this deal, Orange will reinforce its presence in Africa with two additional countries, adding almost 5,5 million customers to its mobile customer base.
It marks an important step forward in Orange’s dynamic growth strategy and will bring the Group’s African footprint up to 20 countries in 2016.
This is further to the initial agreement signed between Airtel and Orange in July 2015 regarding the potential acquisition of Airtel’s operations in Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Chad and Congo Brazzaville. The agreements regarding potential transactions in the remaining two countries have lapsed.
On Tuesday, Orange announced it was acquiring 100 percent of Cellcom Liberia.
– CAJ News
